A/N: I am SO sorry about how long it took me to get this chapter out. First there was Blazing Revolution getting in the way, then writer's block, then exams. So many small things over time just made it difficult to write this out. I thank all of you for being patient with me and I hope this chapter is worth the wait.

"Give her back!"

Never before in his life had Kazuto's voice had so much malice as he rushed at Sugo and pinned him against the wall. The teen's shoulder pressed against Sugou's throat as he glared murderously at the man.

Sugou smirked at Kazuto. "I'm surprised you care this much about one simple program Kirigaya. Just what is this Yui you and my dear Asuna seem so concerned about?"

"Let her go you bastard." Kazuto glared. "Do it now or so help me I'll-"

"You'll what? Attack me and get her deleted? I think you need to realize your place, boy." Sugou enjoyed the hateful but powerless look in Kazuto's eyes. "Now then, I suggest you let me go."

His glare didn't weaken, but Kazuto did back away. He couldn't believe this. How had Sugou gotten ahold of his and Asuna's daughter?

Sugou straightened out his tie as he looked at Kazuto and Asuna. "Now then, I'll keep this simple so your two feeble minds can understand it. The two of you aren't going to tell anyone about my experiments going on in Alfheim Online. In addition, my wedding with dear Asuna will continue on schedule and she'll agree to marry me."

"Like hell that'll happen!" Kazuto shouted.

"You two will do as I say, or you can say goodbye to your precious Yui. Do I make myself clear?"

Kazuto froze. He silently cursed under his breath. He couldn't make a move or do anything without risking Yui being deleted by this psychopath. Asuna stared at what was happening in horror. Why? After they had fought so hard, why? Why was this happening?

"I'll take your silence as a yes." Sugou smirked. "Don't worry about your little program. I'll be sure to keep her nice and safe. Once Asuna and I are married and RECT is passed down to me, I'll hand Yui over to you."

Kazuto and Asuna glared at Sugou with hatred. Kazuto wanted to pierce his heart with his sword right then and there if he could. But he stayed still, his body shaking with rage.

Sugou turned and walked out of the room. "I'll leave you two alone for one final moment. Be sure to enjoy it Asuna, cause after this you'll be all mine."

After Sugou walked out of the room, Kazuto fell to his knees. His hand curled up into a fist and he slammed it on the ground. He had come so close. He had freed Asuna. He thought the nightmare was over. But now the happy future he envisioned with Asuna had never seemed further away.

"Kirito…"

Kazuto turned his head around and saw Asuna staring at him. The look in her eyes was one of fear, that much was clear. Tears welled up in her eyes. Kazuto got to his feet and walked over to Asuna. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close. "I'll find a way to save her. I promise. I won't let that parasite take you from me again."

But at the moment, those were just empty words. He knew that and Asuna knew that. He was powerless against Sugou so long as he had Yui in his grasp. Kazuto knew that Asuna would let Sugou take her if it meant protecting Yui. But how was he supposed to stop Sugou without endangering their daughter?

Soon the door to the hospital room opened again and the receptionist walked in to tell Kazuto that his five minutes were up. Her eyes widened however when she saw Asuna awake. Almost immediately, a doctor was called in. Kazuto was told to leave the room while they checked up on Asuna's condition. He left after saying goodbye to Asuna and telling her one last thing.

"I promise I'll find a way to sort this mess out."

It took Kazuto nearly twice as long to pedal back home on his bike than it had when he had went to the hospital. Almost all of the energy he had when going to see Asuna was gone now, and replaced with a weighing feeling of helplessness.

Kazuto didn't know how much time had passed when he finally returned home. He let his bike fall against the side of the house as he walked inside.

The sound of the door closing made Suguha come downstairs. "Hey Kazuto, how was-" The rest of the sentence died on her tongue as she looked at her brother. "Kazuto? What's wrong? What happened?"

Kazuto fell to his knees as tears rolled down his eyes. He hadn't wanted to break down in front of Suguha, but he couldn't help it anymore. He was at a complete loss at what to do.

"Is it Asuna? Is she ok?" Suguha asked as she kneeled down next to him.

"Asuna… she… she…" Kazuto could barely form a sentence as tears fell from his eyes and splashed onto the floor.

"Kazuto!" sternly said, forcing him to look at her. "What happened?"

It took a few minutes for Kazuto to finally calm down. After he did, he sat with Suguha in the kitchen and explained everything that had happened. When he finally finished, Suguha could see why he was so upset.

"There's gotta be something you can do about this. Anything?" Suguha asked. "You can't just let this Sugou guy get away with everything, can you?"

"I know that!" Kazuto snapped, making Suguha flinch back slightly. "I know that… but still… what am I supposed to do? That bastard has Yui."

Suguha thought to herself, but like Kazuto she was unable to come up with anything. So she did the only thing she could do at the moment. Getting out of her seat, she stared her brother in the eyes with a caring expression.

"Get some rest for now. You've had a long day." Suguha told him. "You've still got time to find a way to stop this guy from marrying Asuna. So rest up and we'll think of something in the morning."

To Suguha's relief Kazuto nodded his head, albeit weakly. She helped him to his room and watched as he crawled into bed. Before leaving, she said one last thing.

"Don't give up hope yet Kazuto. I still believe in you. And I know Asuna does too."

After closing the door to Kazuto's room, Suguha went back to her own room and sat down on her bed. She could see it in Kazuto's eyes that he was at a complete loss of what to do. She needed to think of something. Some way to help Kazuto and Asuna. But how was she supposed to do that?

'What can I do to help?' Suguha asked herself. 'If only I had your strength brother. If only I knew what Kirito would do.' Suddenly an idea flashed in her mind. 'That's it! I don't know what Kirito would do! But I know how to find out!'

Quickly grabbing her cell phone, Suguha ran downstairs and began searching. It was here somewhere. She knew Kazuto kept it by the house phone. Where was it?

"Here it is!" Suguha said with a relieved grin. She took out a small notebook and began flipping through the pages. After circling down a few names that she remembered Kazuto mentioning, she dialed the number of the first one. After a few rings, the person on the other end picked up.

"Ugh… hello? Who is this and do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Sorry." Suguha said. "But this is really important. Is this Lisbeth?"

"Yes it- Wait! How do you know that name?"

Suguha breathed a sigh of relief. "I believe you knew my brother in SAO. His name was Kirito."

"Kirito?! Wait, you're his sister?!"

"Yes." Suguha replied. "I'm sorry for calling you so late, but it's really important."

"Did Kirito get himself mixed up in some kind of trouble again?"

"Sort of. It's a bit of a long story." Suguha explained. "You see…"

Kazuto blinked his eyes open as the morning light shined through his bedroom window. He let out a yawn as he dragged himself out of bed. He had hoped everything that had happened last night was just a bad dream, but it was too clear in his memory for that to be true.

Suguha's words still hung fresh inside his mind. "You've still got time to find a way to stop this guy from marrying Asuna."

Time. That was one thing he wished he had more of right now. If what Sugou said was true, then the marriage would still be on schedule for how it was before. January 26th. That gave him a little less than three days to put a stop to Sugou's plans and save Yui. But just how was he supposed to do that?

Feeling too tired to continue thinking about it right now, Kazuto decided to go get something to eat. Suguha was probably already up, since it was getting close to noon. He needed to thank her for the things she told him last night.

As Kazuto walked downstairs, a voice called from the living room. "Finally. It's about time you woke up."

Kazuto recognized the voice that spoke to him. He yawned as he walked towards the kitchen. "Morning Liz." A few seconds passed by as he froze before rushing backwards over to the living room. "LIZ?!"

"What's up?" Liz greeted with a big grin on her face. "Long time no see."

Kazuto looked at Liz with a blank stare. He rubbed his eyes to see if he was hallucinating, but she was still there. "Y-Yeah… long time no see. Umm… not to be rude Liz, but what are you doing here?"

"Your sister invited us." Liz explained.

"Us?"

"Yo Kirito!" a new voice greeted.

Looking to his left, Kazuto widened his eyes at who he saw. "Klein?! Silica?!"

"It's good to see you again Kirito." Silica said with a cheerful smile.

Soon Suguha walked into the room as well. "Well, well, look who's finally up."

Kirito was at a loss for words at seeing his friends from SAO all together in the living room of his house. He looked over to his sister. "Suguha, why did you invite all of them here?"

"Well that's a bit rude." Liz said with a smirk. "And we were all ready to help you and Asuna."

"Asuna?" Kazuto eyed Suguha. "Did you…"

"Only the short version." Suguha explained. "I figured it be best to hear the whole story from you."

Klein smirked at his best friend. "Let me guess. You were planning on handling this all by yourself, weren't you?"

"Um… Well I…"

"Same old Kirito." Liz said with a roll of her eyes. "Well not this time. We're here to help save Asuna from this sadistic psycho creep."

"I'll help too." Silica chimed in. "You helped me back in SAO. This is the least I can do to repay you."

"Guys…" Kazuto gasped. A smile came to his face. "Thank you. I usually wouldn't want to get anyone else involved, but I can't do this alone. I need your help."

Klein, Liz, Suguha, and Silica all nodded their heads in agreement. Liz looked at Kirito. "One more thing. Who exactly is this Yui that your sister mentioned?"

A cold sweat rolled down the back of Kazuto's neck as he realized that he and Asuna hadn't told any of their friends about Yui. He rubbed the back of his head nervously as he took a seat. "It's a bit of a long story. Where should I start?"

A/N: Again, sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I will try my very best to get the next one out in a timely fashion. In all honesty, that might be a bit hard with SAO: Hollow Realization coming out soon, but I will aim to get chapter 3 out within a month. Hope you all liked the chapter and hope to see you all then.